Fire suppressant, in particular powder fire suppressant, is typically held in a pressurised container until such time that it is required to be deployed into an environment. A valve may be placed at an outlet of the container to prevent premature deployment of the suppressant, which valve may be activated by use of a pyrotechnic charge as discussed below. An example of such a container and valve arrangement is shown in FIGS. 1A-1C.
FIG. 1A shows a container 10 for holding a fire suppressant at a raised pressure, and a valve 20 for controlling the release of the fire suppressant into an external environment, such as a fire suppressant system (not shown).
FIG. 1B shows a cross-section of the container 10 and valve 20 through line A-A in FIG. 1. The operative orientation of the container is such that the valve 20 is located at the bottom of the container in use. Thus, it can be seen that in operation the fire suppressant 1 is held within the container and rests on the valve 20 due to gravity.
FIG. 1C shows a close up of the valve 20 (indicated at “B” in FIG. 1B) which comprises a hollow valve body 22 that is located inside an outlet 12 of the container 10. A rupturable diaphragm 30 is located within the valve body 22 and acts to seal the container 10 to prevent pressurised fire suppressant from escaping prematurely.
A pyrotechnic charge 40 is located inside the valve 20 and below the diaphragm 30. Upon actuation of the pyrotechnic charge 40 a shockwave or localised blast is directed onto the centre of the diaphragm 30. This shockwave causes flexure of the diaphragm 30 inwards towards the fire suppressant 1. This causes mechanical weakening of the diaphragm 30 causing the diaphragm 30 to rupture or perforate (e.g. burst open, tear) and open outwards away from the fire suppressant 1.
Once the diaphragm 30 is perforated fire suppressant expels out through the outlet 12 and valve 20 and into the external environment to perform its fire suppressing function, due to the pressure differential initially present between the interior of the container 10 and the environment.
The present disclosure is aimed at improving the ability of the diaphragm to open to ensure that the fire suppressant can be deployed.